Top 10 Mel Gibson Movies: Made and Starred

Braveheart (1995)

Braveheart is the second picture after Man Without a Face directed by the actor himself. This is an epic historical drama that takes the you back in the 13th century, when Scottish people suffered from English king Edward Longshanks' (Patrick McGoohan) tyranny. Finally a local farmer William Wallace (Mel Gibson) dared to stand against avdespotic ruler by uprising the offended people for a fight. The film exceeded all the expectations – as great as Mel Gibson's screening of the events of that time is impossible to imagine. All scenes are penetrated by unsurpassed historical accuracy making you empathize with the Scottish peasants involved in a bloody conflict. Constant confrontation between good and evil with a great deal of heroism is wrapped round by romantic atmosphere and love affair between Wallace and Princess Isabelle of France (Sophie Marceau). With five Academy Awards and a number of other prizes, with a huge number of positive reviews Braveheart was picked up for the Paramount Pictures' Millennium Collection.

What Women Want (2000)

What Women Want movie at last gives an answer to a painful question that all men have ever wanted to find. Alongside a good mood while watching this comedy, you will also have 127 minutes to discover what women really think about in various situations in course of the day.

An advertisement executive Nick Marshall (Mel Gibson) knows his job just right: he seems to sell anything to men, but his boss thinks Marshall's seducing talents are not enough to win women customers. With dreams about his own promotion, Marshall finds Darcy McGuire (Helen Hunt) in his office. This event sets the ball rolling for his future endeavors to get an advancement. All his attempts to understand woman's psychology go down the drain until he is struck by lightning that endows him with unique capability for understanding woman's thoughts.

The Passion of the Christ (2004)

The movie that drew a wide response all over the world is probably Passion of the Christ. First, the idea of the movie, then Mel Gibson's personal comprehension of the situation, oppressive atmosphere, and at last unexpected choice of language and cast – every detail makes it a unique motion picture that aims to touch even most irreligious person.

The Passion of the Christ depicts only final twelve hours of life of Jesus with flashbacks to his childhood years, to the Sermon on the Mount scenes, to his meeting Mary Magdalene and the Last Supper event. Absolutely undoubtedly Passion of the Christ is an inspired movie, which Mel Gibson, a known catholic, used to share his faith with the viewers. The Aramaic, Hebrew and Latin languages used in the movie create realistic atmosphere of those days. Definitely, the subject matter of Mel Gibson movie drew attention of the public making it highest grossing non-English language movie of all times.

Apocalypto (2006)

Apocalypto is the most unusual action ever. It seems it's typical for Mel Gibson to shoot films in an unexpected manner. Imitating the experience of its proceeder Passion of the Christ, actor decided to apply the initial language of the epoch the movie is telling about – every character is speaking the Yucatec Maya language.

There is a peaceful tribe living deep in the jungle and there is Maya civilization close by that is known for its cruelty and savageness. Maya need people to offer them in sacrifice to their gods or to use them for slaves. One day these two absolutely different cultures meet, where might and strength of the civilization defeated a handful of friendly people. But they could hardly predict there would be a person like Jaguar Paw with inconceivable thirst for freedom they would not be able to subdue.

Mad Max (1979)

Mad Max is the very movie that turned Mel Gibson into a true film star and for many years nicknamed him after the main character. Having become a huge box office success, the movie late was followed by two more sequel series Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.

Ready for harsh reality? Then pick Mad Max to watch. This is a dystopian action movie about the conflict between a motorcycle gang and Main Force Patrol (MFP), which gradually grows into vendetta of MFP's officer Max Rockatansky toward each member of the gang. Mad Max was a hit that alongside Mel Gibson praised George Miller for his directorial debut. Being a low-budget film, it became a cult classic and a true inspiration for other ambitious directors of that time and now.

Lethal Weapon (1987)

Do you like cop drama where apart from crime, action and thriller scenes there are comic situations? Then Mel Gibson film Lethal Weapon will suit you well. The main characters are two absolutely different men in a sense of age and life philosophy. While the one is a veteran of police Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover), an exemplary father and family man looking for retirement, another one is a young ambitions detective Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson), who desperately climbs under fire without sparing himself. One day they happened to work together where their task was to buckle drug traffickers. As it usually happens, two cops could hardly track with each other, especially Riggs who openly showed his negative attitude towards his new partner. But as the story goes, two cops discover they perfectly match each other. The fact that Lethal Weapon spawned three more sequels stand for terrific film success.

The Year of Living Dangerously (1982)

With the help of The Year of Living Dangerously you can look back to see how already mature, experienced and renowned actors Mel Gibson and Sigourney Weaver just started their path to fame.

Guy Hamilton, a young Australian correspondent, is sent to Jakarta, Indonesia, to throw light upon the events in the country. Here he meets his colleagues from different countries including the USA, New Zealand and England, but his predecessor, a life-weary Australian correspondent, take a chance and left the country as soon as Hamilton arrived here. Guy survived difficult times in Jakarta and the only bright moment is his meeting with Jill Bryant, working at the British embassy. They fall in love with each other, but they have to go through hard times in a search or a "the big story" till peaceful times when they can be together.

Gallipoli (1981)

With very powerful and dramatic ending Gallipoli has a very light-hearted and positive beginning. The film can be divided into two parts, where the first is telling about the life of the Australians in the beginning of the 20th century. We meet two young men who become close friends. When the World War I begins, they decide to enlist to fight for the British Empire. Both friends have to undergo training in Egypt to become disciplined soldiers, but little did they know what lies ahead, when their regiment will have to face the Turkish army on a true battlefield.

In the second part romantic atmosphere fades completely giving way to cruel reality. The battle in Gallipoli turns into a ferocious mass, where young Australian boys appear to be fresh meat for enemy machine-guns in a hopeless attack. One of the friends is killed in the bloodiest battle of the World War I, being a victim of imperialist interests.

Payback (1999)

As the name Payback and a movie poster suggest this picture is going to be hot enough with numerous scenes of shootout. Do you like this kind of films but haven't watched the one yet? Then add to your must-see movie list.

Mel Gibson as Porter is actually a bad guy who together with his partner Val Resnick and his former wife Lynn stole $140,000 from a Chinese drug dealer. Unwilling to share a large sum, his wife chooses to send Porter two bullets in his back. A lucky guy, Porter survived and now all he wants is to have his money back, nothing else. But Val is know involved in Outfit activity and he had enough time to spend his and Porter's part. So, the only way out left for Porter to get his money back is to take them from the Outfit's boss, who is really a very bad guy. In Payback you will see anything the movie of 70's should have: violence, wickedness, prostitutes, corrupted policemen, gangsters, etc.

We Were Soldiers (2002)

Based on a true story, We Were Soldiers Mel Gibson film tells the story about the war in Vietnam mostly focusing on the battle of la Drang, one of the most severe battle in the course of war.

Colonel Hal Moore, starred by Mel Gibson, is set to command the 7th Cavalry regiment, the unit that was slaughtered in the Custer's Last battle at the Little Bighorn river. Moore doesn't intend to experience the same poor result as Custer did, so he is working hard to train his troops for their future battle in Vietnam. Unaware of the result of a future battle, the only thing Moore can promise is that he will be the first one to set foot on the field, and the last to step off. While much attention is paid to the battle itself, there is also another storyline telling about the wives of the soldiers, with Moore's wife Julie included, who within several terrible days lose their husbands, while others are anxious waiting for "killed in the battle" notice.